I tend to agree that it’s not quite specific enough to get regulatory agencies really interested, but strong enough to possibly get you badmouthed (even more than you might have).
If you really, really, think the problem is just the manager of this location, I suppose sending it to corporate might do something. But, in my experience, this kind of multiple different corner cutting generally is not all on a single person, but rather a situation where corporate is sending clear signals that they’re more interested in lowering costs than in meeting every safety standard. So I don’t have a lot of hope.
If you can add more detail (give some dates, specific examples, etc.), then sending it to corporate and CCing regulators can be effective – not only at improving patient care, but in protecting yourself.
When organizations are that fucked up, do you really think that writing a letter or talking to the CEO will make a difference? Why do you think that middle management acts that way? Who do you think is giving the strong signals to cut expenses?
You have hit the nail pretty much on the head. But… not quite. The clinic I was (hey, past tense!) working at was owned “jointly” by the doc and Fresenius. I think money was always on both the doc’s and the corporation’s mind. I’m not sure what was going on there, but fucking A, we would run out of stuff and the Fresenius Regional manager would accuse the techs of stealing it. Who’s going to steal two boxes of 15 g butterfly needles? “IV drug users - there’s a market for them” No there, isn’t, you dumbass. IV drug users don’t use that shit - it’s too big a gauge. Well, I suppose they could but that doesn’t explain how we are out of freaking alcohol wipes.. Or CHUCKS! who the hell would steal those things? A surgical pad. I suppose you could throw a few down and change a bay diaper on 'em, but do you think there’s a market for that? Do you think they are being stolen? Really?
This. We’re not talking about bad cornflakes getting through a sorting machine and management looking the other way-this is a matter of the health and safety of those who are trusting you to help keep them alive. If you just walk away and something bad happens at that clinic, how are you going to feel about it then?
I’m a nurse, you get jaded. Life is a lot cheaper than you think. A functional dialysis clinic of this size loses about one patient a month, and that’s not malpractice - that’s the nature of kidney failure ( why else do you think they are on dialysis?). When I precepted in the ER I worked a lot of codes. I have seen a 16 year old kid with sickle cell anemia die in front of my eyes. Pulmonary embolism. Believe me, that sucked.
Don’t try to guilt trip me czarcam. Trust me, I know death. I’m a front line soldier fighting it.
I don’t know much about the medical issues, but your state’s Dept of Labor will be quite interested to know that employees are being allowed (let alone encouraged) to work off the clock assuming they are non-exempt (paid by the hour).
I do care, czarcasm. I just don’t need you to try to moralize. Truly, you do not know of what you speak.
I am quitting because I DO care. You are not a front line soldier. You can not speak to me like that unless you have physically and mentally exhausted yourself trying to save some poor strangers life. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but we all die in the end. But,… just maybe… I can buy them a few more years.
He was suggesting, as others did, that you report this clinic to higher authorities that would appreciate knowing about these problems, and might actually be able to do something about them. The problems that you yourself are so upset about. Why are you fighting him on this suggestion? Is it that you only really want to get certain managers in hot water, and not actually fix the issues to help the patients? Because that’s how this antagonism towards Czarcasm is starting to come across.
I was an orderly in a nursing home for a number of years and I’ve seen my share of death, thank you. Currently I escort a good friend to dialysis three days a week-would you like me to ask her if she would want stuff like this reported to the proper authorities?
My apologies. I’m just generally angry right now. Me and czarcasm have never exactly gotten along, but the tone for the above posts were all my fault.
No, I want to fix the problems, but I thought I made it clear that the managers are the problem. One of the techs said it best, “don’t ask me to change your engine if you won’t give me any tools”.
I think you’re missing the point. Yes, death is inevitable. Yes, many of the people at this and other clinics are going to die no matter how hard you work.
But that’s not an excuse to hasten their deaths due to shoddy practices. Those are the deaths that can be avoided or rightfully postponed.
Of course, if you’ve ever accessed the SDMB while at work using their computers/servers/etc, they possibly already have read the letter, so… mission accomplished.
IMHO, don’t send. You vented, got it off your chest, but it’s time to move on. If you have documented evidence of patient malfeasance/malpractice then, by all means, report it to the regulating authorities. It’s quite likely that if you don’t, in your current position (i.e., unemployed), you could likely be dismissed as a “pissed-off ex-employee”… which, given the fact that you quit, you are. IMHO (since you asked for it), if these issues were that important to you, you should have stayed on to assist the regulators in building their case. But you didn’t, so c’est la vie.
Of course, if you are retiring and don’t need to find employment ever again, then send the letter. Better yet, make it more ranty - what do you care?
With all do respect, I think you and czarcasm are both missing the point. This is constant minor malpractice. I have no smoking gun that I can wave to the authorities and say “Here! look at this!”. What I have is my word against theirs about constant minor violations. How much do you think that’s worth in front of the regulatory bureaucracy, much less the corporate bureaucracy?
Not much.
So, well, don’t make “take this job and shove it, I ain’t working here no more” into a morality play. The management at that job sucks, don’t think I can charge in there and change things. I don’t have the POWER to change it. That’s why I am angry.
Sorry if I swung some verbal punches earlier, but well, I decided NOT to send the letter and that in an odd way makes me feel even angrier.
Every single word. You tried to report it to the company that is the source of the problem in the first place(supposed “help” line notwithstanding). Did you see post #23?
